God’s Friendship Empowers Us

Jim Davis

Friendships are the most powerful influence for change that we experience. We have a tendency to be transformed into the likeness of those we esteem highly. This can be good or this can be bad, for evil communications can corrupt an otherwise good person. The right kind of friends helps us develop a clearer and more focused image of what we need to strive for. Friends help us in developing a direction for our lives through modeling godly character traits. 

We do have a choice about the kind of friends we choose. In the worldly realm it may be hard to initiate the kind of friends we need. But in God’s scheme of things friendships are made much easier, because God helps us initiate important friendships. God can lead us to the kind of friends that can help us become what he sees in us. It all begins with accepting God’s friendship to you. We have seen in the previous studies, God Is a Friend, God initiated the means of having a relationship with each of us before we were born. With God you don’t have to worry about how to initiate the friendship. He initiated his relationship with you through Jesus Christ. All you have to do is accept his friendship.

You don’t have to worry about whether God is your friend, but you do have to seek to know him. He knows you inside and out. He knows what is best for you. He will do what is best for you, but he cannot do everything he desires to do for you until you decide to seek to be his friend. 

David charged Solomon to seek the Lord, but in the same breath he assured him that he could find the Lord.

1 Chronicles 28:8-10
8 "So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever. 

9 "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. 10 Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work." NIV 

God Is a Powerful Friend

Initially, God chose to reveal himself through his creative powers in creation. Too often we only see God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence as it relates to his initial manifestation in the creation of our world, but God wants us to experience his attributes in our daily lives as we seek to trust in his promises. These terms for describing God’s character remain foreign to our ears until we understand that they describe his sovereignty over our lives. These terms define the character of God’s eternal existence. He is ruler of the universe and no one can thwart his plans for my life. Not even my sin can thwart his plan and purpose for my life.

Sin seeks to blind us the creative presence of God in our lives, but it leaves us without an excuse for not becoming God’s friend.

Romans 1:18-20
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. NIV

God is the most powerful influential friend possible. The best place to learn about God’s power and influence for our lives is to see God as he acts upon lives throughout biblical history. God revealed himself as a powerful ally to the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob experienced God’s power in their personal lives. God’s plan for their lives reached beyond the limitations of time and circumstance as he fulfilled his purpose for their lives. 

When God led the children of Israel out of Egypt, he did it in a powerful way in so that Israel could experience his personal power for their personal lives. Moses writes the first five books of the Bible after Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt. It was after they had experienced the miraculous plagues that initiated their release. Moses gave them the book of Genesis, which stated in the very first verse, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” They may have been ancient people with little or no formal education, but they had accepted what Moses wrote. They accepted it because God had already demonstrated himself as a powerful ally and friend.

God led the children of Israel into the wilderness to cultivate this sense of awe they had experienced as they came out of Egypt. Sadly, they had a difficult time allowing God to cultivate the sense of his awesome and powerful presence. They were like most of us—they had a difficult time surrendering themselves fully to their experiences the way God desired. 

How to Experience God’s Friendship

We do ourselves a disfavor by seeking to know the New Testament without knowledge of the Old Testament, for it is the Old Testament that gives us a tangible picture of the power of his love, and a sense of his justice and holiness. 

God entered into every facet of Israel’s life. God not only led them out of Egypt and spoke his law to them; he entered into a relationship with them as he entered into their wilderness struggle with them. His presence was there in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He was there providing the very sustenance of their lives. He fed them and gave them drink. He gave them dietary laws and laws for personal hygiene to protect them throughout their wilderness journey. 

This tangible experience of God’s power, love, and holiness were the things that gave the Israelites the possibility of being different from the rest of the world. Just before Israel prepared to cross the Jordan to conquer Canaan in the fortieth year of their sojourn, Moses spoke these words to Israel as he sought to remind them of God’s powerful presence.

Deuteronomy 1:3-13
3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them. 4 This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth. 

5 East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying: 

6 The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, "You have stayed long enough at this mountain. 7 Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. 8 See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore he would give to your fathers--to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--and to their descendants after them." NIV

Friendship with God is dependent upon you trusting in the presence of God. Moses reminded Israel what God had done for them saying, “Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them.  This was after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated Og king of Bashan. . .”(Deuteronomy 1:1-3). Israel had experienced God’s power and presence in the wilderness, but now they were going to experience the surety of God’s promises as they received the promised inheritance. 

Moses reminded Israel that the land of Canaan was hers for the taking: “The LORD our God said to us at Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the Arabah, in the mountains, in the western foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon, as far as the great river, the Euphrates. See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore he would give to your fathers--to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--and to their descendants after them’" (Deuteronomy 1:6-8).

God’s friendship is immutable for it doesn’t increase or diminish as our faith often does in trying circumstances. We can always rest assured that his promises are always dependable. One thing that may make it difficult for us to fully realize God’s presence is that we might be looking for a miracle. Many only come to God when in trouble. Their only desire if for God to get them out of the fix they are in. They are only looking for a powerful friend in emergencies.

We can rest assured that we will experience God’s friendship by following the faithful followers of God. Paul writes, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1 NIV). Today followers of Christ are Abraham’s descendants (Galatians 3:26-27)—he is not so far removed from us that we can’t follow his example. We must follow our father, Abraham.

The circumstances through which God called Abraham’s descendants were perfect for them to learn the crucial facts about God. It was through their experience of God that they realized the immutability of God’s promises. Those circumstances allowed God to reveal his faithfulness as he intervened to save them. The circumstances were perfect for the growth of God’s people into a great nation. They provided the perfect opportunity for them discover that they could trust God as their faithful friend. They were perfect for deciphering how much they had grown as they faced Canaan after the forty years of wilderness journey. 

The only place to truly learn of God’s friendship is by allowing God’s active presence to be a part of your circumstance. Of course, today this begins when we allow God’s Son to enter our lives at baptism. However, our experience of God must move beyond the ritual of baptism as he resurrects us to a new life in Christ by allowing Christ to be resurrected in our lives.

The great men and women of the past experienced God when they obeyed God’s call and stepped out to claim the promises of God. 

Hebrews 11:8-12
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 

11 By faith Abraham, even though he was past age-and Sarah herself was barren-was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. NIV

This is where it begins for every person. Trusting obedience to God’s call in your circumstances is the only way to experience God’s friendship. 

Following God leads me to seek God’s mind through prayer as I seek to allow God to lead me in paths of righteousness. As Abraham followed God into the unknown, he did so through prayer. It was through prayer that he continued to receive assurance of God’s call when he was weak in faith.

Genesis 15:6-21
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. 

7 He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it." 

8 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?" 

9 So the LORD said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon." 

10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11 Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 

12 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. 13 Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure." 

17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates-- 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites." NIV

The act of dividing the animals and walking through the parts was apparently an ancient form of contractual agreement. Very little is actually known of this custom from records of the ancient world. While the meaning of the details may remain a mystery to us, fortunately the writer of Genesis has explained the custom: "On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram." God was reassuring Abraham that his promise was immutable.

Abraham did not come to God in a smug self-righteousness; he came to God when he was weak and afraid—he came to God when his faith needed assurance. God heard him because his heart was full of anxiety about how to live for God.

Genesis 15:6-21
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. 

7 He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it." 

8 But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?" 

Abraham believed in his heart, but he was having a difficult time accepting what he knew. He was praying for wisdom to understand. God did not scorn him because he understood his heart. 

Today God assures us through the presence of his Holy Spirit through prayer. 

Romans 8:26-27
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. NIV
 
God is a friend that listens to our hearts more than he does our words. It is a comfort knowing that God searches my heart. A friend is a person who knows my heart when my words are spoken amiss.

God’s powerful influence in our lives is not realized overnight. It is something that develops over a lifetime, in the midst of all kinds of trials and circumstances.

Philippians 4:4-7
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. NIV

God’s presence doesn’t always give us immediate answers. Abraham received assurance from God in times of weakness, but he had had to wait for the reality of God’s assurance until God was ready to fulfill his promise through the birth of Isaac. 

God is a friend that is working in our lives even when we can’t see him. He often answers prayers without revealing himself. He answers prayers when we have a hard time believing that he answered them.

Acts 12:5-17
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. 

6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. 

8 Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him. 9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. 10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. 

11 Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating." 

12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. 13 Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. 14 When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, "Peter is at the door!" 

15 "You're out of your mind," they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, "It must be his angel." 

16 But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. "Tell James and the brothers about this," he said, and then he left for another place. NIV

There are times when God answers our prayers with a resounding yes!

1 Kings 18:36-39
36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." 

38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 

39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD-he is God! The LORD-he is God!" NIV

God remains my friend even when my motives are amiss. During these times he seeks to lead me through circumstances designed to reveal my impure motives. In the following verses James allows Christian’s of the first century to see themselves from God’s vantage point as he revealed the impure motives of their hearts.

James 4:1-10
4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 

4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?  6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: 

"God opposes the proud 
but gives grace to the humble."  

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. NIV 

God knows you completely and loves you absolutely. During times like these God is a friend that seeks to lead back to the right way through helping me realize my need for repentance. The psalmist writes, “O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar—You are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely” (Psalms 139:1-4).

The scriptures tell us that God is in control of the details of our lives ...The Lord works out everything for his own ends—(Proverbs 16:4) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

God is in control—but that doesn’t make us a robot. He doesn’t use us against our will. He does, however, offer the assurance that if we trust him with the details of our lives, he will make every circumstance work in our favor. He wants what is best for us. 

Conclusion:

I want to talk more about prayer in our fifth lesson on God is a Friend next week. So this is where we will pick up next week.